From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the German pop group. For the British television series, see No Angels (TV series).

No Angels
Left to right: Jessica Wahls, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, and Nadja Benaissa (2007).
Background information
Origin	Germany
Genre(s)	Pop, Europop
Years active	2000-2003 (disbanded) 2007-present (reunited)
Label(s)	Cheyenne/Polydor (2000-2003) Polydor/Universal (2007-present)
Website	Official site
Members
Nadja Benaissa Lucy Diakovska Sandy Mölling Jessica Wahls
Former members
Vanessa Petruo (2000-2003)

The No Angels are an all-female pop group from Germany that originated in 2000 on the international television talent show Popstars. Originally a quintet, the group eventually became a quartet, emerging as the most successful German girl band to date with more than five million records sold between the years of 2001-2003. On September 5, 2003, the girls announced, that they would no longer be performing together, instead pursuing individual careers in music, theatre, television and film. However, on New Year's Day 2007, it was confirmed that No Angels were set to record their first studio album in over four years.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Formation 1.2 Elle'ments 1.3 Now ... Us! 1.4 Pure 1.5 Reunion 2 Discography 2.1 Albums 2.2 Singles 3 Tours 4 Awards 4.1 2001 4.2 2002 4.3 2003 5 Notes and references 6 External links

Over the course of three months in fall 2000 more than 4,500 hopeful female singers attended open television auditions in Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Oberhausen, Cologne, Stuttgart and Munich for the first installment of RTL 2’s Popstars talent show. Judged by Dutch entertainer Simone Angel, booker Mario M. Mendryzcki and Rainer Moslener, a director of A&R, thirty-two out of two hundred girls eventually made it from the the local recall shows to Mallorca, Spain to get trained in singing, dancing, and fitness. While the judges continued eliminating two or three girls each day with the help of choreographer Detlef "D!" Soost, eleven finalists remained and were sent home to polish up.

In November 2000 Angel and Moslener visited each of them to reveal whether or not they had been selected for the band. In the end five girls made it into the band: Nadja Benaissa, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, Vanessa Petruo and Jessica Wahls. With the final members of the group in place, Popstars continued tracking the development and struggles of the new band - from then on known as the No Angels.

After months of recording the No Angels released their debut single "Daylight in Your Eyes" on February 5, 2001 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The pop song was a partial remake of the same-titled Victoria Faiella single from 2000.^[1] However, the song entered the charts at number one on the German Media Control chart and remained on the top position for another five weeks, simultaneously reaching the top of the Austrian, and Swiss airplay and singles charts.^[2] The song also proved to be a hit outside the German speaking countries when it peaked at number one in Brazil, Estonia, and Luxembourg and entered the Top 100 in France, Poland and Bulgaria. Although a "less sexy" second version of the video was filmed for the North American market, both the video and the song saw minor to no commercial success in the United States only.^[3]

In March 2001, the band released their debut album, Elle'ments in Europe. Due to the sheer volume of interest in the group the album managed to sell more than 640,000 copies in Germany alone, making it the biggest selling album of 2000. Elle'ments eventually sold over two million copies worldwide and was certified triple platinum for its sales.^[4]

Riding a wave of publicity and hype, the group followed their debut single up by quickly releasing "Rivers of Joy" in April 2001 and "There Must Be an Angel", a cover version of the 1985 hit by British pop duo Eurythmics, in August 2001. While the No Angels' second single became another top ten hit, the band's third single continued the group's remarkable sales by topping the charts once again in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Brazil. The last release from Elle'ments was a double A-side of album cut "When the Angels Sing" and "Atlantis", a duet with the song's original composer and singer Donovan, which was limitedly used as theme song for Walt Disney's animated feature Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Following this, the band announced their almost sold out "Rivers of Joy Tour" with thirty dates which began on October 19, 2001 and ended on December 10, 2001.^[4]

In June 2002, the No Angels released their second studio album, Now ... Us!. Preceded by the group's third number one single "Something about Us", a song which dealt with circulating but wrong rumours about the band, and earned the group a third ECHO Award for its music video, the album went on selling over 800,000 copies. Though the album's sales failed to link on the unexpected success of Elle'ments the band remained the biggest selling German group of 2002. Further singles released from the album included summer-lite "Still in Love with You" and a Mousse T-produced single remix of funk influenced "Let's Go to Bed", which became the band's first track not to enter the Top 10 in Germany.

In the course of a special concert at the Berlin Tränenpalast in October 2002 the No Angels soon followed with a DVD and CD entitled When the Angels Swing featuring their biggest hits and selected songs from their first two albums, done in the style of classic swing music. They also re-released Now ... Us! in a special Winter Edition, including the band's next single "All Cried out", a cover by singer Alison Moyet. The song was released in two versions, one pop and one classical, and spawned two music videos to promote both the re-release and When the Angels Swing.

Soon after the girls experienced a bit of turbulence when Jessica Wahls announced she was taking a break from the band to give birth to her first child. Although the girls had agreed upon Jessica's return the following year, Wahls decided not to return to the band after her daughter's birth in March 2003, and instead started pursuing a solo career.

Returning from yet another hiatus, the four remaining girls released their third album, Pure, in August 2003. Sporting a more mature side of pop music, the album received a positive response - even though it failed to achieve the success of its two best selling predecessors with a total of less than 250.000 copies sold. The lead single from the album, "No Angels (It's All in Your Mind)", however, became the group's fourth non-consecutive number-one single in Germany and seventh top ten hit in Austria. With Spanish-lite "Someday", and R&B driven "Feelgood Lies" the album spawned another two top 5 singles.

Further planned single releases off the album never materialised: On September 5, 2003, after three years of travelling, promotional appearances, and diseases-yielding stress the No Angels announced their official disbandment towards the end of the year. While the girls and their management decided to cancel all dates of their scheduled 2004 Pure Acoustic Tour, the band (now re-joined by Jessica) agreed on releasing a final album, The Best of No Angels, in December of the same year. Apart from a collection of all of the radio-ready singles the girls had released over the years, the album also contained a reworked version of one of the debut album tracks, "Reason". Released as the band's final single in November 2003, the song became another Top 10 success for the group.

After a "final performance" in Munich on December 12, 2003 the No Angels each went their separate ways after that, all of them concentrating on their individual solo careers in music, theatre, television and film ...

In mid-2006 Diakovska approached her former bandmates to arrange a first meeting with all members for years.^[5] While Vanessa Petruo denied to join the band once again in favour of her solo career in music and film, all other members of the original line-up agreed to reunite for a musical comeback, and the band eventually took action to prepare their comeback album in absolute secrecy from public.^[5] However, on January 1, 2007 rumors emerged, that the band was reuniting,^[6] and while both the group and their management refused to take a stand during the following weeks, an official press conference on January 31, 2007 confirmed, that the band was working on their fourth studio album Destiny, scheduled for a release on April 13, 2007. The album's lead single, "Goodbye to Yesterday" was released on March 16, 2007 and more recently debuted at number 4 on the German Singles Chart.

Further information: No Angels discography

• Elle'ments (2001)
• Now ... Us! (2002)
• When the Angels Swing (2002)
• Pure (2003)
• The Best of No Angels (2003)
• Acoustic Angels (2004)
• Destiny (2007)

Year	Title	Album	Chart positions
			GER	AUT	SWI	BRA
2001	"Daylight in Your Eyes"	Elle'ments	1	1	1	1
	"Rivers of Joy"		7	10	10	-
	"There Must Be an Angel"		1	1	2	1
	"When the Angels Sing"/"Atlantis"	Elle'ments / Now ... Us!	5	5	16	-
2002	"Something about Us"	Now ... Us!	1	1	11	-
	"Still in Love with You"		2	4	10	-
	"Let's Go to Bed"		12	46	-	-
	"All Cried out"	Now ... Us! / When the Angels Swing	18	23	56	-
2003	"No Angel (It's All in Your Mind)"	Pure	1	10	46	-
	"Someday"		5	16	36	-
	"Feelgood Lies"		3	12	29	-
	"Reason"	The Best of No Angels	9	12	28	-
2007	"Goodbye to Yesterday"	Destiny	4	21	16	-

• Rivers of Joy Tour (2001)
• Four Season Tour (2002)
• TBA (2007)

• Bambi - "Pop National"
• Comet - "Best Act National"
• Eins Live Krone - "Best Newcomer"
• Top of the Pops Award - "Top Single Germany"

• Bravo Otto (Gold) - "Superband Pop"
• Comet - "Act National"
• ECHO - "Best National Group - Rock/Pop"
• ECHO - "Best National Single - Rock/Pop"
• Eins Live Krone - "Best Band"
• World Music Awards - "Best-selling German Act"

• Bravo Otto (Gold) - "Superband Pop"
• Comet - "Band National"
• ECHO - "Best National Videoclip"
• Eins Live Krone - "Best Single"
• Goldene Kamera - "Best Band"

• No Angels (Official website) (German)